Billy Woods is a true innovator. An artist who recontextualizes their style and musical tone on every album. The eerie and uniquely deceptive lyrics from Billy woods leave you hanging onto every word with hypnotic intensity and deliverance.

On GOLLIWOG Billy is not only creating an atmosphere to sober the audience in the unsettling and heavy lyrical topics but he is immersing you in a experience that is 100% unique to any other experimental rap act out there today. The hard hitting and sometimes disorienting beats set the the scene for Billy’s ever changing flows and masterful rhythm. The opening track Jumpscare is one of the strangest and frenetic moments on the record and fits the opening of the record perfectly with his flows evolving and picking up energy as the track goes on and flows with the beat switches like a true master. His finesse in the third verse is outrageously fire with lines as deep as “ The English language is Violence, I got wired it, I got a hold of the master’s tools and got dialed in” setting the tone for the topics on the record that follow.

The song transitions into STAR87 flawlessly a song that brings one of the hardest hitting and perfectly balanced tracks on the record. The beat is absolutely stunning with the Jazz influenced bass line, Time stretched synth chords and detuned keyboard melodies and fits the intensity and frustration within the lyrics. Misery is not only the lead single of this record but one of the biggest high points and most focused tracks on the record. The storytelling is elite on this track and tells the story of a free spirited woman whom woods is infatuated with and is trying to unravel her intentions with unsettling metaphors and cinematic imagery. BLK XMAS tells the story of a character’s neigborhead sorting through the fragments of a evicted families belongings. A song with stunning and powerful lyrics and one of the best stories on the record.

Waterproof Mascara is a specificallly upsetting and dark song with the beat being made out of a sample of a woman’s cries and some haunting choral vocals. Woods raps with a loose intensity talking about memories from his adolescence in a way that is both dark and vulnerable at the same time. The next three tracks Counterclockwise, Corinthians and Pitchforks and Halos are some of the most memorable and intense tracks I’ve heard woods present yet. The three tunes flow in such a great way with the intersections of Jazz instrumentation and drowsy beats and heartbreaking lyrics.

This LP is one of the deepest and densest albums I’ve come across in a long time and is honestly a very overstimulating listening experience which the content deserves. the second half of the record has some stunning moments with tracks such as A Doll fulla puns a song that is one of the more melodic and emotional tracks with a beautiful rnb instrumental and a amazing chorus sung by Yolanda Watson. The lyricism is sharper than ever on Golgotha backed by a beat that is as dissonant as it is emotive. Following one of the title formats from early in the record is the track BLK ZMBY a triumph of lyrical expression for Billy and keeps this albums track record of only bangers very consistent. Make no mistake is a fantastic track that has some gorgeous piano lurking in the back of the track as well as the drowsy Born Alone and Lead paint test. Songs that keep the innovation going strong with amazing samples and cathartic bars.

Dislocated ends this record in a crushing and emotionally expressive way with the jagged instrumentation reacting to the flows and bars of Billy with some gorgeous strings floating in the background. A stunning end to a beautiful record.

order GOLLIWOG by Billy Woods HERE